Filter press guide device

ABSTRACT

A filter press with central suspension of filter plates (5) is provided with a guide which ensures a flush alignment of adjacent filter plates, said guide lying outside the area affected by the filter medium, being integrated in a space-saving manner into the filter press, and permitting a certain amount of twisting or other overall adjustment of the filter plate package. For this purpose, the guide device is disposed on the filter plate suspension (9, 10, 18, 25) and is composed of at least one guide rod (19, 20) which is flexible to a limited elastic degree, and runs along guide members (1,2), and of at least one guide element (21, 22) for each filter plate (5) fitting around guide rod (19, 20), said elements being disposed on yoke piece (25) which supports rollers (19, 10) of the filter plate suspension.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a filter press whose filter plates and endplate are centrally suspended at the lower, for example, inner flanges,by two parallel double T-shaped guide members supported by supportpillars by two rollers mounted opposite a plane of the filter plate andstaggered alternately in opposite directions, on a yoke piece fastenedto the top of the filter plates, and which is equipped with a guidedevice to prevent the filter plate from swinging.

In, for example, German Pat. No. 11 09 647, the guide device consists ofrigid rods, for example tension rods, on which the filter plates, fittedwith sliders or rollers, directly rest. It is known in this connectionto dispose these guide rods either in the vicinity of the lower filterplate corners or halfway up the height of the plates or in the vicinityof the upper filter plate corners. However, at these points, the guiderods frequently interfere with operation and the guides are also exposedto attack from the filter medium, which is disadvantageous especially inthe case of corrosive filter media. In addition, the provision ofsliders or rollers on the filter plates requires separate, relativelycostly machining. In addition, there is frequently insufficient playprovided to the filter plate package for a certain overall shape.Especially in the case of the filter plates which are increasingly inuse today, often more than five square meters in size, which areassembled at very high pressures. As a result of irregularities in thefilter plates spanned by filter cloth, forces build up which aredirected toward an overall lifting of the filter plate package or atwisting of the filter plate package. In the case of rigid guidestherefore, this can lead to destruction of the guides or to breakage ofthe filter plates.

The aim underlying the invention essentially resides in providing afilter press with a guide which ensures flush alignment of adjacentfilter plates, with the guide being located outside the area affected bythe filter medium, and being integrated in a space-saving manner in thefilter press, while also allowing a certain twisting or other overalladjustment of the filter plate package.

On the basis of a filter press of the type described above, the solutionto this problem is achieved according to the invention by virtue of thefact that the guide device is disposed on the filter plate suspensionand include at least one guide rod running along the guide member andbeing elastically flexible to a limited degree, and each yoke piece isprovided with at least one guide element fitting around the guide rod.

These measures result in the achievement of a number of advantages. Forone thing a spatially compact arrangement of the filter plate suspensionand guide is achieved so that the guides in no way still impedeoperation of the filter press, for example when changing the filtercloth. The guides are located a clear distance from the filter platesand thus outside the area of exposure to the filter medium, so that theyremain protected against contamination and corrosive attack. Integratingthe guide into the filter plate suspension eliminates the need forspecial machining on the filter plate. In addition, the guide permitscertain intrinsic deformations of the entire filter plate package, butreliably ensures that adjacent filter plates remain aligned flush withone another when the filter press is closed in such fashion that thesealing edges of the filter plates always join one another to asufficient degree to seal off the filter chambers.

A provision can be made in constructing the invention such that theguide rod is disposed immediately laterally next to one of the outsidelower flanges of the guide rods. Alternatively however, according to theinvention, provision can also be made such that the guide rod isdisposed above the horizontal plane defined by the rollers, on theoutside next to the guide members, and such that the yoke piece isprovided with an arm which supports the guide element and fits aroundthe lower flange of one of the guide members. In this manner, anincreased distace between the filter plate suspension and the guide isachieved. The guide element can be disposed on the filter plate plane.An even greater distance between the filter plate suspension and theguide can be achieved in another embodiment of the invention by virtueof the fact that the guide element is disposed in a vertical plane whichis staggered with respect to the plane of the filter plate.

According to the invention, one guide rod can be disposed on either sideof the guide member and each yoke piece can have two guide elementswhich are staggered opposite to the staggering direction of the rollersrelative to the filter plate plane. Each of the guide elements locatednext to one of the guide rods can lie in the same vertical plane as theroller guided on the other guide member. To produce the largest possiblespacing relative to the central suspension, the guide rods can bedisposed in the upper area of the guide members.

According to other features of the invention, provision can be made suchthat the guide elements are designed as pipe hangers or as a U-shapedpart open at the top.

The guide rods according to the invention may include rods or tubeswhich are mounted on the support pillars opposite the end plate of thefilter plate package and whose freely projecting ends pass through aguide holes in the end plates. Alternatively, the guide rods can consistof tensioned cables fastened to both supporting pillars and passingthrough a guide hole in the end plate.

The subject matter of the present invention will be described in greaterdetail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of a filter plate with centralsuspension and an alignment guide integrated into the suspension for thefilter plates according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of a third embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IV--IV in FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals are usedthroughout the various views to designate like parts and, moreparticularly, to FIG. 1, according to this figure, two guide members 1,2 constructed as double T-shaped members are supported endwise on twosupport pillars (not shown), with filter plates 5 being centrallysuspended on lower inner flanges 3, 4 of the guide members 1, 2. A yokepiece 6 is threadably secured to the filter plates 5 at the top, withthe yoke piece 6 including a lower threaded bar 7 and a substantiallytriangular plate 8 directed diagonally thereto, on which plate, rollers9, 10 are disposed with each roller being staggered in oppositedirections with respect to a plane of the filter plates 5. Immediatelyadjacent a lower outer flange 11, a tubular guide rod 12 runs along theguide member 2, with the tubular guide rod 12 being surrounded by a pipehanger-like guide 13 fastened, for example, by a threaded connection, toan extension 14 of a bar 7 of the yoke piece 6. The filter press isprovided, in a conventional manner, on one side with an end plate (notshown) movably mounted on the guide members 1, 2 on which end plate thehydraulic cylinder for closing the filter plate package directly acts oracts by way of tension rods. The guide rod 12 is rigidly attached at oneend to the support pillar which is away from the end plate while theother end freely projects and passes through a guide hold in the endplate.

In the embodiment according to FIG. 2, an upwardly directed arm 15 ismounted on bar 7 of yoke piece 6. On a side of the arm facing guidemember 2 a pipe hanger-shaped guide element 16 is threadably secured atthe top, with the element 16 fitting around tubular guide rod 17 mountedapproximately halfway up guide members 1, 2.

In the embodiment in FIGS. 3 and 4, two guide rods 19, 20 are mountedoutside next to guide members 1, 2, with each of rods 19, 20 beingsurrounded by U-shaped guide elements 21, 22 open at the top. Guideelements 21, 22 are each supported by arms 23, 24 which are threaded tothe outer ends of bar 25 of yoke piece 18.

While in the embodiments according to FIGS. 1 and 2, guide elements 13,16 lie within the vertical plane defined by filter plate 5, in theembodiment according to FIGS. 3 and 4 arms 23, 24 are bent opposite tothe staggering of rollers 9, 10 in such fashion that guide element 22,which is located outside next to guide member 2, lies in the samevertical plane as the roller 10 guided on the other guide member 1 andby the fact that guide element 21 lies in the same vertical plane as theroller. Guide elements 21, 22 thus have a considerable distance A fromthe swing axis P of the filter plate defined by the two rollers 9, 10,so that an effective relative alignment of the adjacent filter plates isensured by guide rods 19, 20 when the filter press is closed or opened.

We claim:
 1. Filter press comprising filter plates and an end plate, two parallel double T-shaped guide members having inner flanges from which the end plate and filter plates are centrally suspended, support pillar means supporting the guide members, two rollers mounted on a yoke piece attached to a top of the filter plates, said rollers being staggered in an opposite direction relative to a plane of the filter plate, a guide device for preventing a swinging of the filter plates, the guide device including at least one guide rod extending along said guide members, said at least one guide rod being elastically flexible to a limited degree, said yoke piece being provided with at least one guide element extending around the guide rod, and wherein a bar means is provided on which the yoke piece and supporting rollers are mounted, said bar means being secured substantially centrally of an upper edge of the filter plate.
 2. Filter press according to claim 1, wherein the guide rod is disposed directly laterally next to one outer lower flange of the guide members, and wherein one end of said guide rod is rigidly attached to said support pillar means and an opposite end freely projects through a guide hole provided in the end plate.
 3. Filter press according to claim 1, wherein the guide rod is disposed above a horizontal plane defined by the roller next to said guide members on an outside thereof and when the beam means is provided with an arm which extends around a lower flange of one of the guide members and supports said guide element.
 4. Filter press according to one of claims 2 or 3, wherein the guide element is disposed in the plane of the filter plate.
 5. Filter press according to one of claims 2 or 3, wherein the guide element is disposed in a vertical plane which is staggered with respect to a plane of the filter plate.
 6. Filter press according to claim 5, wherein one guide rod is disposed on either side of the guide members and wherein the yoke piece has two guide elements which are staggered opposite to the staggering direction of the rollers with respect to the plane of the filter plate.
 7. Filter press according to claim 6, wherein each of the guide elements located next to one of the guide members has the roller guided on the other guide member in the same vertical plane.
 8. Filter press according to claim 6, wherein the guide rods are disposed in an upper area of the guide members.
 9. Filter press according to claim 1, wherein the guide elements are constructed as U-shaped parts open at a top thereof.
 10. Filter press according to claim 1, wherein the at least one guide rod consist includes tensioned cables fastened to the support pillar means and passes through a guide hole in the end plate. 